Women's words, women's bodies: late nineteenth century English feminisms in the ‘Interview’ column of the Women's Penny Paper/Woman's Herald (Oct. 27, 1888–Apr. 23, 1892)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historians have written extensively on early twentieth-century British women’s suffrage, and late nineteenth century feminisms. Nevertheless, there is still an insufficiency in studies that attend to the textual and visual contents of late nineteenth century feminist periodicals. Non-mainstream periodicals produced by women for women allow us to explore distinctive hybrid modes of gender. They also offer us exclusive access into the everyday experiences, and individual thoughts of actual late nineteenth century women. This article focuses on women’s interviews and portraits published in the Women’s Penny Paper/Women’s Herald, demonstrating that they often combined traditional with more radical emergent signifiers of womanhood in written and pictorial form. This is a journey into the verbal and non-verbal messages communicated through women’s words and bodies, expanding our collective archaeological project of reinterpreting the past from women’s point of view, and the manner in which New Women utilised their choice of words and appearance to gain power.